Dachi: Keiko's sidestory
by Osa P
Summary: An add on to the original fic where Keiko ponders the events of the last few weeks and justice is finally served. Or something like that. yusukexkuwabara, previous keikoxyusuke, some language, gayness.


Dachi- Keiko's sidestory

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Keiko sat on the corner of her bed closest to the wall, her form bathed in darkness, as there wasn't a single bit of light in the entire room. She had her knees up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her head rested against the pseudo-table the rest of her body made. She had been sitting there in the dark since she'd arrived home from school that afternoon and it was nearing 8 o'clock in the evening. Her sulking would have been made more impressive had she not been kept at the school until 5:30 which was a whole hour and a half later than she normally would have stayed.

"A detention", she said quietly to herself. She sounded surprised even after the fact, but it had been her first detention in her academic career.

"How could this have happened?" This was the same question that had been rolling around in her brain since early that morning. Not how could she have ended up with a detention, but how could this moment in her life have gone so wrong? A few days ago she had had the boyfriend she'd always wanted and all of loving attention focused on her. Today it was as though the world had inverted itself over night. Suddenly she was the bad guy? It didn't make any sense!

"This isn't my fault!", she cried and gripped her arms tighter around her legs. "This couldn't have been my fault, it just couldn't!" Her voice was louder than before and almost to normal levels.

She sucked in a gasp as she heard her mother call for her just outside of her bedroom door. She had to be quiet and feign deep sleep or she'd have to explain what happened today and she currently wasn't ready to explain it to herself. She sat stock still in the corner, breathing slowly and deeply, until she could hear her mother's footsteps traveling away from her door.

She expelled a sigh in a half sob. 'How could my life have gone so wrong that I won't even face my own mother?' Keiko was crying again for what seemed to be the billionth time that day and all stemming from the same reason.

"This is all his fault!", she whispered harshly. She could still remember so clearly, perhaps too clearly, the events of that morning. The harsh words Yusuke had said to her, the way he protected that faggot friend of his. It was disgusting to say the least. The big oaf wasn't even remotely attractive and yet he'd caught the attention of _her_ boyfriend.

'Well, ex now, but only because he's a faggot too.' As soon as she thought it, she regretted it. Even if she didn't condone what he did with his 'boyfriend' she wasn't able to insult him, or at least not fully. They'd had good times after all and she wouldn't be able to forget those. What she couldn't understand was why he'd choose a guy over her? She was pretty, smart, affectionate, and she was able to hold the attentions of many boys in her class.

'Hm, if there's nothing wrong with me, then…' Her head snapped up suddenly as she discovered why she was currently single. 'It's him! Worse yet, it's Kuwabara doing this to him.' She smiled to herself in the darkness.

"That's it," she whispered to herself. "It's Kuwabara…I'll show them all what he's doing to my Yusuke and then they'll see and he'll take me back." She nodded, firming her resolve. She untangled herself from her position on the bed and went about her room turning on lights and arranging things. She pulled a pair of pajamas out of her drawer. There was no point in doing her homework that evening for it had already been done during her extensive detention.

After changing she gazed at herself in a mirror on her dresser. "I have to get plenty of sleep, right?" She nodded to her reflected self. "I'm going to win him back tomorrow." She smirked at her mirror self then turned out the lights and climbed into bed.

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Keiko slammed the door to the noodle shop closed and stormed past the customers and her parents. She continued her angry pace right up to her room and slammed that door as well. She plopped down on her bed and let the tears flow.

'I failed! How is that possible?' During school she'd obviously failed at reuniting with her boyfriend, not that she didn't try.

That morning she'd entered the school building full of accusations, all of which were pointed at Kazuma Kuwabara. Keiko had accused him of blackmail weaving a tale of deception covered up with 'friendship'. She'd continued her tirade for a good 10 minutes before class began, not noticing that no one would dare look her in the face from embarrassment. She'd failed to notice their inattention and continued badmouthing the tall fighter who'd taken _her_ boyfriend.

It wasn't until Yusuke released his boyfriend's waist and came over to stand in front of her did she cease. Her look was hopeful, believing that she'd actually won him over. She wasn't affected when he glared at her and said, "If this is what it takes to get you to shut up then I'll sit by you for the rest of the day. Just don't expect anything." If anything, this phrase only gave her more hope.

Things began to look up for the determined girl for Yusuke did take his seat next to her that morning. Of course Kuwabara wasn't far behind and took a seat next to him, but she ignored his actions figuring them to be a reminder of what he held over her dear Yusuke's head. They weren't able to speak that morning for fear of the teacher's reprimands, but Keiko managed to sneak a look at him here or there and there were several occasions when their eyes met. During each of these meetings she ignored the look of disdain his brown eyes held and chalked it up to maintaining the _relationship_ he had with his _best friend_.

Come lunch her spirits had been fully restored and she was ready to initiate part 2 of her plan to win him back. However, there proved to be a major kink in her plan before it even started. As soon as they'd been dismissed for lunch, Yusuke and Kuwabara had dashed out of the classroom to some unknown location. She remained in her seat fiddling with the lids of the two lunches she brought(for her and her newly reunited boyfriend), racking her brain for places they could have gone. She stood up rather abruptly as she realized just where the two boys had gone.

Keiko raced up to the roof and threw open the door to find the two boys sitting right up against the railing with their legs dangling off the edge of the building. She walked purposefully up behind them and was about to tap Yusuke on the shoulder when he growled at her.

"What do you want?"

"Yusuke," she'd said, "I made your lunch just like always, but you ran off before I could give it to you."

He snorted in response. She waited for a bit expecting more of an answer but receiving none. She edged closer to where the boys sat until she was able to glance over Yusuke's shoulder. Much to her dismay he already had a packed lunch and was more than halfway through it.

"Yusuke…", she'd breathed out sounding hurt.

"What, Keiko?"

"I thought I… I-I always bring lunch for you and after this morning I-"

"Look, it's Ku-wa-ba-ra", he said the name slowly as if talking to a child, "that always brings me lunch or at least it was like that before you showed up."

"But Yusuke you told me the lunches I made for you were the best." She was dangerously close to tears now and it could be heard in her voice.

Kuwabara who hadn't shown any sign that he was listening tensed up and was soon after choking on his meal. Yusuke immediately put down his own lunch and began hitting him on the back and checking his face to see if he'd begun turning colors yet.

He spared a glance at Keiko. "Leave already. I already sat by you in class." He turned back to his boyfriend who still appeared to be choking.

Keiko bit at her bottom lip trying her hardest not to let the tears flow and turned on her heel. She walked slowly, but firmly. Behind her she could no longer hear choking, but laughter.

"You told her what?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Stop laughing already."

Laughing. He'd been trying to laugh the whole time.

The rest of the day didn't exactly go better but it wasn't worse either. Still, when the bell rang to let out school she could be seen racing home with a grim look plastered to her face. She'd gone straight for her bedroom and where she now sat on her bed crying out her frustrations.

'I can't believe he lied to me! He told me… It's such a silly thing I know, but he **lied** to me.' She cried harder at the thought.

"Has that stupid ogre always been more important than me?", she asked her self. "No… I can't call him that, it'll insult the ogres." She smirked to herself. That sounded like something Yusuke would've have said and most likely to the boy he now claimed to be dating.

"He couldn't have been more interested in him the whole time. He did date me for weeks after all." She chewed at her bottom lip, no longer crying but calculating. "He didn't start to lose interest until the idiot got sick…"

Keiko continued to think late into the evening, only pausing to do her homework. When she'd finished with her work she took a bath and changed into her pajamas, all the while still thinking, 'How can I get him to notice me instead?'

After finishing her nightly rituals she was still drawing a blank. 'Well, I'll figure something out in the morning. I _know_ there's something I've got that the idiot doesn't.'

She drifted off to sleep knowing that she had the whole weekend to think about it .

----------

It was worse. It shouldn't have been possible, but somehow the day had been worse than the two before.

Keiko entered the noodle shop, this time openly crying, and half-stumbled past the customers and her parents. She ignored their inquiring calls about her well-being and continued to drag herself up the stairs and into her bedroom. She fell to her bed and began sobbing. Life was terrible.

That morning she'd entered the classroom with no words, only a smile and had sat down demurely. The rest of the class seemed to breath a sigh of relief, happy to have an outburst-free morning. Even Kuwabara and Yusuke had looked a little relieved and relaxed their holds on one another.

The rest of the morning went on without interruption and lunch came upon them in no time at all. Several more nosy students were perched eagerly in their seats hoping to see some action between the ex-couple, but were disappointed. Keiko merely took out her lunch and dug in while Yusuke and Kuwabara disappeared off to the roof, all without any sort of confrontation between them.

The afternoon continued in much the same fashion and it wasn't until P.E. that Keiko initiated her plan. When the boys and girls went their separate ways to change, she dived into the bathroom, a small bag in tow. Several minutes passed before she reappeared and went straight for the field where the boys and the girls were trying their hand at various track and field events.

She made sure to add a little bit more of a womanly touch to her walk and one would have to if they were wearing a high heels instead of the school issued flats. As she came upon Yusuke all heads turned too take in her appearance. Gone was the drab and somewhat cute school uniform and in its place was a tight fitting, low-cut blood red tank top and a painfully short black skirt. Her legs were encased in a pair of black fishnet tights and her feet had been shoved into a pair of red heels. Her hair had been done up into a messy bun with plenty of freshly curled strands hanging down and framing her face. On her face she wore a light layer of makeup, only enough to give her some color and otherwise accentuate her more appealing features. All in all, she looked very attractive.

Once she'd reached the object of her affections she smiled, hopefully seductively, at him. Yusuke blinked at her not quite knowing what to say. In fact, no one knew what to say and they all just stared.

"So Yusuke, do you like what you see?" She'd smiled wider at him and he took a step back from her. He was saved from responding by the female gym teacher. She'd marched over and took a hold of Keiko's bare arm, then dragged her off to the principal's office. Even sitting in the office, the girl was not deterred from her plans.

She was released after school with a set of detentions set up for later that week and a parent-teacher conference some time in the near future. She smiled to herself despite the punishment, still confident that her plan would work.

Keiko roamed about the school in search of her prey. She knew Yusuke had clean up duties that afternoon and that he'd most likely be without the oaf since they'd been assigned to different days. Her plan could still work!

Upon reaching the classroom she noticed only two of the assigned kids working. She'd asked where the third student had gone and was directed to the storage closet across the hall. She smirked to herself, exuding confidence, and sauntered up to the door. She wasted no time in knocking and flung the door open.

Keiko shuddered to herself at the memory of what she'd found there. Instead of her dear Yusuke, alone, she'd found him with the oaf locked passionately together. They hadn't even heard her for a good few minutes and when they'd finally noticed her, Yusuke had refused to stop. At least the idiot had the decency to blush .

She'd begun to cry then and still hadn't stopped. She was sure that by now her makeup had smeared horribly and that her hair was tangled mess. She was a mess.

She flinched when she heard a knock on her door. It was most likely her mother wanting to know why she was so upset. 'Well, I'm not telling her. She'd never understand anyway.' Not a sound could be heard except for the small hiccupping sounds she made from her intense crying. Eventually she heard her mother leave and she rolled over onto her back.

How had things turned out so wrong? Wasn't she supposed to be happy? Shouldn't she be out at some lover's spot with her childhood companion turned boyfriend? More importantly why were they no longer friends? It couldn't all be her fault could it? But still the words Yusuke had spoken to her that fateful day echoed in her mind.

_"__It's your fault, Keiko-chan for trying to be something that you're not and__for never being able to treat me like I wasn't some possession to be won."_

Being something that she wasn't? What had he meant by that? She closed her eyes and let out a half sigh half sob. It didn't seem to matter how long she thought about it she just couldn't figure out how to win him back. Was it impossible?

It felt like an eternity passed with her alone in her dark room. Her thoughts kept going around in circles, never with any new or pertinent information. She felt like she was slowly driving herself nuts. She didn't even hear someone approach her door and knock on it. Half a minute later the knocking finally broke through her muddled mind and she stiffened up.

She remained silent on her bed hoping that whichever of her parents stood outside, they would soon leave. She was surprised when the knocking continued with added vigor and she heard her mother's voice.

"Sweety, please open up. You have a visitor."

Keiko finally sat up on her bed and let her legs dangle off the side. A visitor? 'Who would be willing to visit me right now?' Suddenly her eyes lit up. Had the entire day been a mistake? Was what she saw in the supply closet just a clever rouse to test her? She jumped up from the bed with energy she didn't know she had and flung open the door…

…Only to be disappointed and more than a little insulted at what she saw. There was no Yusuke to greet her, only the oaf. Kuwabara was standing, head down and hands behind his back, to the right of her mother. Mrs. Yukimura looked so small next to the tall boy beside her- almost menacing.

'Of course he's menacing', she thought. 'He's probably blackmailed everyone he knows already.' Keiko's face had taken on a less than pleasing appearance just at the sight of the boy.

"Oh Keiko dear, you look miserable!", Mrs. Yukimura exclaimed. "Here, let me-" She reached out a hand only to have it batted away.

"I'm fine mother," she snapped out. "What's he doing here?", she asked with a rather snide emphasis on the 'he'.

Keiko's mother looked a little put out by her daughter's behavior but she explained the young man's purpose anyway. "This nice young man came by to see how you were." She smiled up at him missing the glare her daughter shot at her. "He also said he had something very important to tell you. I just thought that anyone that came by to see you would definitely have good news so I brought him on up." She turned her smile on her daughter who appeared to be less than thrilled with her mother's reasoning.

"Well, you to go on and talk amongst yourselves." The elder Yukimura female turned and headed down the stairs muttering to herself. "Maybe he can explain where her good-for-nothing boyfriend's gone off to…"

Kuwabara blushed at that and locked his eyes more firmly on the floor. Keiko continued to glare daggers at him. The two stood in uncomfortable silence for what seemed like forever.

"So…", Kuwabara cleared his throat. "I, uh… I came to apologize."

Keiko snorted in a rather un-ladylike fashion. "You? Apologize? About what may I ask?"

"I came to apologize about this afternoon. I know you're not comfortable and all with that type of stuff so I just didn't want you to think we were just being mean or anything…" His eyes were still trained on the floor.

"Oh, well thank you for coming all the way over to my house just to remind me of the sick games you've been playing with _my_ boyfriend. I'd just forgotten about it all." Her tone was harsh and her look wasn't much softer.

"Keiko-san, it's not a sick game-"

She let out a bark of laughter. "Not a sick game? Really? Then what do you call blackmailing a boy, who's already attached to someone else, into dating you so you can live out your fag fantasies?"

His tone was angry though he refused to raise his voice. "I'd call that a fantasy of your own Keiko-san. If that's what you want to believe then feel free, but I didn't just come here to apologize."

"Just as I thought. You came here to rub this all in my face didn't you?"

He finally looked up so that their eyes met. "Your wrong. I came here to, hopefully, open your eyes up a bit. I can't change you, that's for sure, but the last thing we all need is some crazy girl running around screaming 'fag this' and 'fag that', especially when that girl is you."

Keiko looked pissed beyond words but somehow managed to control herself. "So talk already. The sooner you're done the sooner you can leave."

Kuwabara nodded. "I don't feel really ok with talking about this in your hallway, but this has gotta get done." He took a deep breath and began. "I know you're not okay with me and Yusuke getting together and I can understand why. He didn't exactly dump you in the best way." She nodded sharply. "But, then again, you weren't exactly the kindest to him either." She frowned. "Look, I watched you guys for weeks just too make sure you were okay and stuff and I saw how uptight you tended to get sometimes and that's just something Yusuke doesn't need. He deals with enough uptightness in and out of demon world without you having to add to it."

"Uptight? I am in no way-!"

He held up a hand to silence her. "Just let me finish. I really wanted you two to make it and end up happy together with like 8 kids or something, but it just didn't work out that way. And I'm not saying that it would have even without me being here, but I just want you to know that I'm sorry I had to be the reason. I never wanted there to be anything bad between us." Keiko's face now wore a purely incredulous look.

"Seriously, I wanted us to be on ok terms with one another, but I guess that won't happen anytime soon. But whether you believe it's my fault or not, you and Yusuke just wouldn't have worked. That's the bottom line. Like I said, I wished for different, but it just didn't happen. I don't see why you guys still can't be friends though. You've known each other for, like, ever and it doesn't feel right seeing to friends apart like this."

"What do you know?", she growled out.

"I know how it feels to be separated from a good buddy and I also know how bad it feels to be on bad terms with them no matter what happened before." Kuwabara gazed down at her with not unkind eyes and she seemed to wither under their gaze. She would no longer meet his eyes. "I know you don't like me very much, if at all, and I know you really don't like homosexuality, but for Yusuke's sake and for your own, make up with him. I know he won't say it now, but he's gonna miss you even after all that you guys said to each other and you've gotta be missing him, right?"

His question hung in the air between them for a good while. Eventually Kuwabara turned and left feeling that he wouldn't get a response at that time. Keiko stood out in the hallway until she heard the bell on the shop window jingle signaling his departure. She turned and went into her room, shutting the door behind her.

She decided against returning directly to her bed and sat on the floor with her back up against it. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.

'I want to be his friend again, right?' She knew this was both true and a false. She didn't want to be just his friend. She wanted to be where Kuwabara was now but she was slowly realizing that she wouldn't have a chance.

She continued to replay the conversation- or rather, lecture she'd just had in her mind. 'He said I was too uptight. Was I really that bad…?' Her mind was able to pull up several events when she was much more harsh with him then she should have been.

'Hm, like that time when I just had to know who came first in his life. I admit that was more than uptight. It sounds so controlling now that I think about it.' She shook her head to herself amazed at how she'd acted in the previous weeks. 'And the who-makes-the-better-lunch thing was just silly. I can't believe I even asked him something like that.'

She rested her head on her knees and closed her eyes. "I can understand being a little jealous, but I was pretty extreme especially later into our relationship," she sighed to herself. "I wonder what it was that made me so crazy?" She sat in silence for a bit just letting her thoughts wander.

Suddenly her head snapped up as realization hit her. 'It was sometime before he went on that mission!'

Everything seemed so clear to her now that she could remember that mood-altering afternoon. There hadn't been anything special planned for the two of them after school and they'd gone to her parents shop to do homework. It was in the corner of the shop in between math and English homework that the trouble began.

Yusuke had finished the last math problem on the page and had leaned back in his seat, mentally exhausted. She'd smiled at his antics as always, finding them to be boyishly cute. He'd relaxed for several heartbeats, not saying anything and she'd felt content not to interrupt his rest. Keiko had been surprised when he suddenly spoke to her.

"Hey, Keiko-chan?" She 'hmmed' in response to show that she was listening. "Is it a bad thing if, like, you really like your friend?", he had asked, sounding nervous.

"Of course not, you have to like your friends or you wouldn't be together in the first place!" She'd had to restrain herself from giggling at such a silly question.

Yusuke sat up and turned to face her. "That's not exactly what I mean. What if you, uh, like-_like_ your friend?"

She had smiled softly at him that time. "Well, when that happens those two usually go out. Like you and me." She was surprised when he shook his head.

"That's not what I'm trying to say." He paused, thinking. "What if.. what if this friend you like-_like_ is a boy?"

Keiko had given him a weird look, not quite understanding what he meant still. "You're a boy Yusuke and-"

"No!", he caught himself. "I mean what if you're a boy and he's a boy?" He didn't meet her eyes after he'd said that.

Keiko didn't realize it then, but she could see it now, but she'd grown very angry in that moment. "Then that boy should forget about the other boy", she'd said flatly. "It is in no way normal for those type of thoughts to come to mind. It's just not natural!" Her voice raised in passion as she'd continued to speak.

"Well, I was just asking-"

"You shouldn't even ask!", she snapped. "You just shouldn't have those thoughts! It's just wrong!" Her last outburst had shut her boyfriend up and the subject was officially dropped. Only now did she understand why she'd become so fanatical in the last weeks of their relationship.

'I was so hateful to him then.' Keiko started crying again. She cried for several minutes not thinking of anything in particular. Once the tears had subsided she stood up from her place on the floor and went to her book bag. She pulled out several sheets of paper and an ink pen and placed them on her desk in the corner of her room. She sat next to it and began writing.

----------

Keiko entered the classroom early Tuesday morning looking rather blank. She took a seat near the back of the classroom. There she waited until Yusuke and Kuwabara appeared, hand in hand. She remained in her seat for a few moments longer, building up her courage, then approached the two near the window.

"Um, Yusuke?"

Yusuke immediately turned a glare on her and snipped out, "What do you want?"

Keiko took a deep breath. It was now or never. "I wanted to apologize."

Yusuke and Kuwabara looked at her surprised. "What do you mean?", the black haired boy asked.

She smiled sadly at them. "I mean that I've been a real jerk lately and that you both deserve an apology from me. So, I'm sorry." She pulled out a piece of paper with Yusuke's full name on it and held it out to him. "Here. This has a full apology on it, but I wanted you to know that I'm sorry before I gave it to you I guess." She turned to Kuwabara. "And I'm very sorry to you, Kuwabara-san."

Both boys seemed stunned into silence. She was apologizing to Kuwabara?

"This whole time I've been less than cordial to you. I'd have to say I've been outright hateful to you most of the time, but you've continued to work for my best interest. I never did thank you for setting Yusuke and I up and I can't even calculate all the time you spent away from your best friend just so he and I could be together. You truly are a good soul and I thank you for all that you've done." She smiled at him, genuinely believing what she said.

Kuwabara looked shocked for a few more moments before returning his smile. He took the folded paper that she offered to him without question.

"Well, I guess that's all then." She turned and was heading back to her seat when she felt a hand grab her wrist. "Yes, Yusuke?"

"Look Keiko, I… I don't know why you did this or why you're all of a sudden feeling so chummy, but," he looked away from her, "I want you to know that I can't forgive you yet. I'm glad you apologized and all, but I just can't forgive you yet. I mean you were pretty bitchy the other day and said some shitty stuff to Kuwa the other day…" She nodded at him in understanding. "I just-"

"I know, Yusuke. I want to be your friend again too." She wriggled her wrist out of his grasp. "Just friends this time," she added.

Yusuke half-smiled at her and the two parted.

Back in her seat, Keiko smiled to herself. Everything wasn't perfect, but it wasn't terrible either. She may not have Yusuke they way she'd wanted, but at least she could still see him and that was all that mattered.

'I think I can live with this.'

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holy jeez, i expected this to be like 3,000 words tops. dangit. and this biznatch changed directions so many friggin times. this whole thing started from me wanting to put in the 'what if a boy likes a boy' conversation. jeezy chreezy.XD **read Kazima'sfics**

anywho, anyone want another?i could possibly do a hiei or kurama one. or more than likely a shizuru one. hopefully those would be much shorter. oh,how many ppl like keiko now? _imagines crickets chirping_ hmm... right. **read Kazima's fics**

thanx again to everyone who reviewed the **read Kazima's fics** original fic and a thanx to GoldenKitsuneHime13 cuz i never had a chance to thank you before. and still, wear a bikini.


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